The Likeness by Tana French

This book is a follow up novel to In the Woods. Although it follows one of the characters in the previous book and makes references to a few things that happened, it's not necessary to read In the Woods first or at all. I really liked this book. The concept was interesting and I was eager to see how things were going to pan out. There were a few times throughout the book where the story moved a little slower than I would have liked. Some people might have an issue with bad language.

Synopsis: Detective Cassie Maddox started her career undercover creating the character Lexie Madison but was pulled from her case after being stabbed by a drug dealer. Years later, a woman is found dead in an abandoned cottage carrying an ID bearing the name of Lexie Madison and looking so much like Cassie that her own boyfriend on the murder squad thought it was her. With very few clues and suspects, an unusual opportunity presents itself. Cassie is talked into going undercover as the dead woman in order to find the murderer. Cassie must convince Lexie's four close knit roommates that she is Lexie, a difficult task. Orphaned at a young age with no siblings, Cassie finds herself enamored with the group of friends who have a family-like relationship. After a while, it becomes clear that the group is falling apart over a secret that Cassie doesn't know about.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

When this book first came out, there was a little bit of hype surrounding it. I read what it was about and thought "Are you serious? A magical circus? No thank you!" After a while, I kept seeing it pop up on Must Read lists so I figured I would give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised and ended up really liking it. This is a magical story set in a backdrop of black and white. After reading this, I wanted to get my fortune read. ;)

Synopsis: A group of people get together and start a circus. This circus only opens at night and will come and leave town without any notice. Unbeknownst to the patrons, the circus is also a battleground for two magicians, Celia and Marco, who have trained since their childhood for this competition. Celia and Marco fall in love with each other but are unable to stop the competition when they learn it will end when one of them is dead. Not only are they unable to stop the competition, the fate of the circus and all involved are at stake.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley

I've been wanting to read this series for a while now and finally got around to starting it. I really liked it a lot. The main character Flavia is hilarious and I can't wait to see what she does next. This adult mystery is a book everyone can enjoy since it's cleaner than most teen novels I've read.

Synopsis: Set in 1950's England, Flavia de Luce is a precocious 11 year old with a passion for chemistry and poison. Flavia turns detective when she discovers a dead body in their garden. With only a few clues, Flavia is on a mission to solve the mystery and hand it over to the authorities on a silver platter. The importance of solving the murder is upped when the prime suspect is Flavia's own father! Armed with only her trusty bicycle and her wits Flavia bustles about gathering clues and still finds time to pester her eldest sister by putting poison ivy in her lipstick. Everything is fun and games until the real murderer comes after her!

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

I was expecting a lot more from this book. It started out promising and even had some humorous parts. My biggest complaint was the narration of the main character Little Bee. There's a part in the book where she goes on a rant about all the ways she would kill herself that was over the top for me. In other parts she would interrupt the storytelling to describe stuff. An example of this is when you finally are about to hear the story of how Little Bee met Sarah and her husband Andrew, and Little Bee decides to describe Sarah's living room instead. The book would have been a lot better if Little Bee's point of view were told differently.

Synopsis: Husband and wife, Andrew and Sarah, go on vacation to Nigeria in hopes to save their floundering marriage. While on the beach, Andrew and Sarah come across Little Bee and her sister as they are fleeing from men that are trying to kill them. Years later, Little Bee is in a detention center in England and tries to find Andrew and Sarah. The reappearance of Little Bee, causes Andrew to kill himself from the guilt he carried from the day on the beach. Sarah is left to figure out what to do with Little Bee, who is still in the country illegally and will likely be killed if sent back to Nigeria.

Hood by Stephen R. Lawhead

This is a take on the classic tale of Robin Hood and is part of a trilogy. I probably wouldn't have made it through if I wasn't reading it on audio. There were some extremely slow parts where I wanted the action to get going again. This first book follows a young Prince Bran who is robbed of his kingdom. He finds a home in the forest with a group of refugees and begins to rob the rich invaders as they pass through the forest.

Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo

This book received a lot of media attention when it came out and it sounded interesting. I finally got around to downloading the audio. It's about a four year old boy , Colton, who died during surgery and gradually reveals to his family what he saw in heaven. Without any prompting from his parents, he described things a little kid shouldn't know about. He also said he met his unborn sister who died when his mother miscarried. This happened before he was born and was something they never told him about. He also met his great grandfather who died long before he was born. When shown a picture of him, he didn't recognize him until a much younger picture was shown to him. Colton's story ends up touching his family and their small community. Knowing that they would see their loved ones after death, that God answers prayers, and that there is a heaven, Colton gave comfort and increased the faith of those around him.

The father is a pastor so it gets a little preachy at parts but overall, I enjoyed it. There are quite a few negative reviews online about the story being fabricated and how Colton is only repeating things he heard growing up in a religious family. Whether you believe them or not is up to you. In this day and age where everyone is looking for their five minutes of fame, at least Colton's story has provided inspiration and hope for many people. I would much rather see someone benefit from telling their near death experience than some stupid reality show on television.

Graveminder by Melissa Marr

3 1/2 stars

Fans of the Wicked Lovely series are sure to enjoy Melissa Marr's adult novel about a town that made a contract with Death. Maylene is the town's Graveminder in charge of taking care of the newly deceased. A dead person needs three things: food, drink and words. When not minded, the dead will rise and claim what they need from the living. When this happens, the Graveminder must work with the town's Undertaker to return the dead to Mr. D in the land of the dead. Rebekkah is given the responsibility of Graveminder when her grandmother is killed by a walking dead. Bek must make things right with the help of Byron, they guy she refuses to admit she's in love with.

This book probably would have been more successful as a teen novel if it had a few things cut out like language and a semi-love scene. The sexual tension between Bek and Byron was ridiculous. Throughout the book, Bek would deny she was in love with Byron and then throw herself at him and say to him "This doesn't mean anything." That got old pretty fast. The mystery about Mr. D and the contract kept the book interesting, in fact, I wish the book would have included more of the backstory since that seemed more interesting than what was actually happening in the book. The book ended with a few questions leaving it open to a possible followup. In the end, this was a toss up for me. I liked it but it's not one I would recommend with confidence.

The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson

Eve falls in love with a charming man and finds herself whisked away to Provence on a whirlwind romance. As time progresses, Dom's secretive nature about his ex wife Rachel threaten to tear their relationship apart. The combination of Dom's strange behavior and the fact that there might be a killer in the community, has Eve questioning how much she really knows Dom. Throw in a few ghosts and a successful perfume maker who vanished several decades earlier and you have the recipe for a great story. WRONG!

I was extremely disappointed in this book. The book was overly descriptive and slowed down the storytelling so much that I started skimming pages for actual dialogue. I read the first 100 pages and then skimmed the rest. The beginning was so confusing, it took a while to realize that the book was actually jumping between two different characters in different points in time. Besides being at the beginning of a new chapter, there was no other indication which character it was following. Because of this confusion, I thought the second character was actually Eve remembering her childhood instead of it actually being the previous owner of the house. The book didn't seem to have a realistic ending. Would a relationship really survive if one parter thought the other was capable of murder? This isn't something that could be easily swept under the rug and a young fragile relationship wouldn't be able to survive it. The other story line about the missing/murdered women was ridiculously explained away. The truth about the ex wife, Rachel, was so ridiculous that Dom actually murdering her would have been a more believable story. The missing perfume maker? Halfway through that story line you already know what happened and have to painfully wait for the book to slowly describe what you already know happened.

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

I am a huge Mistborn fan and I was surprised when I heard there was going to be a new Mistborn novel. This book doesn't follow any of the original characters and takes place several hundred years later. Think Mistborn meets the Wild West. After hundreds of years of interracial breeding, Feruchemy and Allomancy have combined to create new powers. Waxillium is a lawkeeper out in the roughs who is drawn into solving a string of crimes by a gang called the Vanishers. Waxillum has a sidekick named Wayne who offers some comic relief which got a little cheesy. You don't have to read the previous books to read this one. There is a character that appears at the end of the book that is from the original trilogy who is supposed to be dead. I'm interested in seeing where that story line goes so I'll probably be reading the next one. Even though I liked this book, I liked the original trilogy more.

Room by Emma Donoghue

I bought this book because someone told me it was the the best book they'd ever read. After starting it, I got disinterested and kept reading other books instead. After reading four books, I finally got back to it and was committed to finishing it. It was pretty tough going and I had to start skimming in order to finish. The main problem is that the narrator is a five year old boy. Imagine reading a 300 page autobiography by a little kid. It was very tedious. Throughout the book there is also the annoying tidbit of how Jack likes to breast feed and how the milk from the left breast is so creamy. A detail I could have lived without but he was only too kind to repeat over and over. I was extremely disappointed in this book.

Room is about a five year old boy whose mother was kidnapped at nineteen. Held captive in a converted garden shed, Jack is born and raised in Room. Through the beginning of the book, Jack details his life in Room and what they do to keep busy. Things pick up a little bit when Jack's mom comes up with a plan to escape. After escaping, Jack and his mom have challenges integrating into the real world.